I have maintained my weight loss within 10 lbs.up or down, for about 6 years now (size 6). I keep asking myself why have I been so successful?

I was never in a hurry to lose the weight. I only averaged 5 or 6 lbs per month. I never had a goal and got smaller then I ever thought I would, (nice surprise).

I got very small fills. I took allmost a year to get to good restriction.

I wasn't too hard on myself if I cheated. I cheated a lot, I still do and have learned this is part of who I am. Ha!, tomorrow is another day.

I followed my doctors rules the first several months. It was hard, but I did it.

I never compared myself to anyone elses success or failure.

I exercised ( as little as possible) but I did it and still do (as little as possible).

I learned what my food triggers are, this was a hard one to overcome.

I learned to replace my craviings for sweet and chocolate and fat with low calorie, low fat recipes. (I can't live without chocolate).

I learned to eat slowly and chew well, this took over a year to master.

I learned when I go out to eat, about 2 or 3 times a month to totally enjoy my food, to eat whatever I want including dessert, and not count calories or worry about

portions. To enjoy the atmosphere and the company I am with.

I learned if I had a bad day, eating or otherwise, it will pass and tomorrow is a new beginning. Sometimes it was a bad week.

I didn't need anyone to validate my success. No one knows I had this done. Not even my family. So no one to judge me good or bad.

I learned I now have a great track record and most likely this will continue.

For me losing the weight was not a body image issue, it was a health issue. However being thin has been a nice side effect.

Hope this post will encourage some.

As a new bandster, this was just what I needed to hear. What a balanced and realistic approach. You're an inspiration!

Thank you so much for your inspiring post. It is exactly what I desperately needed to hear today. I just posted a new thread on how discouraged I feel, yet how I am very motivated to continue successfully on my own journey.

I only told my extremely close friends and family about my lapband (and I'm SO GLAD I DID THAT!) because I too did not want the naysayers to discourage me nor judge me. Thank goodness I have such a good support system.

Ever since my weight loss stopped about two years ago after I had my second back-to-back baby I have to admit I have been feeling like a failure and of course, it makes me even more discouraged now that I don't see the scale budge even though it's been three weeks since I've started doing heavy duty exercising and really watching what I eat even more closely.

You stated you got very small fills and that it took a good year to actually feel some restriction. Can you please describe what "good restriction" should feel like? Should I be feeling "full" after a few spoonfuls or does that mean I'm too tight? Does good restriction mean that you can only drink a few ounces of liquids at a time?

Any tips from a successful person such as yourself are desperately needed and deeply appreciated.

Very inspirational story. Thank you so much for sharing!

I'm only a year out from my surgery, but I have approached it the same way. i didn't have the surgery to stop eating all good things and I can't give up chocolate either!

i still eat pretty much whatever I want, just not huge portions and not all of the time. most of the time, i eat what i'm "supposed" to eat, but i go out with friends, i indulge, i cheat, i drink, i eat, i enjoy life! i never really did that before the band, so life is much better now that i'm learning to eat correctly. i don't obsess and think about food constantly and when i do eat, i spend a lot of time chewing it, so i only eat things that i enjoy having in my mouth. my tastes have changed. there are some things that i used to think i loved but after masticating for a few minutes, it just tasted totally disgusting. i have learned to enjoy the act of eating food and not just shovel it down.

so...i hope i'm on track like you are after 7 years. i have already come so far without putting any pressure on myself. i didn't really tell anyone other than my husband and 1 other friend, so i haven't had people constantly watching me eat or asking me about my progress. i don't really have an end destination in mind and i'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. I just want to enjoy life. i am technically still obese, but i feel great and i look great as well, if i stay at this current weight i'd be fine with it. i suspect that i will continue to lose though, especially as the summer heats up and i start working out again. i'm lazy in the winter

anywho, congrats on being where you are. i hope i'm lucky enough to maintain even if i don't lose any more weight.

As an almost seven year bandster too, this does mirror my approach - although I'm a bit of an exercise freak, lol. I love my running!

But I eat (and ate) what I want, sometimes bad foods. I refused to beat myself up over it. I lost slowly but steadily and have kept the weight off.

I guess it is not how fast or slow you lose the weight. It is whether or not you can maintain it. You know we have all these rules we have to follow. I found out first of all I can't follow all of the rules. I don't want to. So I had to learn to adjust this band journey to rules I can live with and that work for me. My two major ones are chocolate everyday and to exercise as little as possible. My other main rule is to be accountable to the calories I consume whether it be a lot or a little everyday. Also not to consume junk or fast food. This works for me.

Fabulous!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

WOW WOW WOW !! Thank you, Thank you thank you !!! Banded 4/6/12 it's been 7 weeks .looking forward to 7 years !! :-)

I like your attitude! Seems more like a life long effort for better health. I have always sabotaged my weight loss in the past because "I broke the rules". I usually felt like "@@## it and quit, quit feeling better about myself, quit trying to take care of me & my health.

I don't want to do that ever again. your post puts it in a better prospective for me. I do have bad days, I am losing at a slower rate. I wish I could exercise more but, in general I feel great and this experience has been amazing!!

Thanks for such an uplifting post!!!

I love you ladies for posting this! Congrats on all your success. This i s the mindset I've had thus far and am still doing great and the scale is going down.

LOVE THIS!!! This journey, so far only 1 month in, is really hard in unexpected ways. I needed this dose of sanity tonight. Thank you.

WOW! you just assured what i needed to hear to not only keep on going but to not beat myself up on a daily basis! i am down 70 lbs and feel great...i had a eye opening experience last night when i saw a pic of me a year ago and then from sunday...its so easy to forget where we have all come from! so i say thank you...this is what i needed to hear and apparently a lot of us!

Wow that was well said. I've followed the slow turtle because it's the only way I can think about losing weight with band. I'm so happy to know someone else believes in this process and is successful. I hope many read your post.

I'm going into my second year and am feeling so much more success, knowledge, and ability to listen to my body and band. First year was survival, second is learning and fine tuning to get ultimate weight loss and outlook.

I have maintained my weight loss within 10 lbs.up or down' date=' for about 6 years now (size 6). I keep asking myself why have I been so successful?

I was never in a hurry to lose the weight. I only averaged 5 or 6 lbs per month. I never had a goal and got smaller then I ever thought I would, (nice surprise).

I got very small fills. I took allmost a year to get to good restriction.

I wasn't too hard on myself if I cheated. I cheated a lot, I still do and have learned this is part of who I am. Ha!, tomorrow is another day.

I followed my doctors rules the first several months. It was hard, but I did it.

I never compared myself to anyone elses success or failure.

I exercised ( as little as possible) but I did it and still do (as little as possible).

I learned what my food triggers are, this was a hard one to overcome.

I learned to replace my craviings for sweet and chocolate and fat with low calorie, low fat recipes. (I can't live without chocolate).

I learned to eat slowly and chew well, this took over a year to master.

I learned when I go out to eat, about 2 or 3 times a month to totally enjoy my food, to eat whatever I want including dessert, and not count calories or worry about

portions. To enjoy the atmosphere and the company I am with.

I learned if I had a bad day, eating or otherwise, it will pass and tomorrow is a new beginning. Sometimes it was a bad week.

I didn't need anyone to validate my success. No one knows I had this done. Not even my family. So no one to judge me good or bad.

I learned I now have a great track record and most likely this will continue.

For me losing the weight was not a body image issue, it was a health issue. However being thin has been a nice side effect.

Hope this post will encourage some.[/quote']

Awesome! And thank you so much for posting and sharing this... Come back soon and post more- very inspiring! No need to hope about your post being encouraging it was beyond that... Thanks for paying it forward!